I would call it the 'network stress tester'. Our network folks claim that no other application in our environment ever touches so many servers at one time every day, or so fully saturates the network for sustained periods, and also that they rarely see activity spikes as high as TSM's when we startup multiple simultaneous backup sessions.
-my $.02 Kent Monthei GlaxoSmithKline "The opinions expressed in this communication are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer" "William Rosette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 06-Mar-2003 11:32 Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: ADSM-L cc: Subject: Re: Poor TSM Performances I 2nd that, we call TSM around here "The Server Stress Tester" TSM will work like a Rock if left on its own. We still have 3.1.0.8 version running good and restoring good. But, I am 2nd to Network at getting the blame for errors that were already there. TSM will find the errors and just because the errors happen at backup time does not necessarily mean the backup is the blame. Thank You, Bill Rosette Data Center/IS/Papa Johns International WWJD bbullock <[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] COM> cc: Sent by: "ADSM: Subject: Re: Poor TSM Performances Dist Stor Manager" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] .EDU> 03/06/2003 11:22 AM Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" At my site, a few of us call the TSM application our "canary in a coal mine", it typically the first indication of other possible problems on the host or network. Sure, most of the time it is actually only the TSM client having issues, but in those cases where we can't figure out why TSM is having a problem, it has turned out to be a non-TSM issue. We have had many situations where the TSM backups fail on a client and we start poking around only to find that TSM failures were only a symptom, not the cause. Most common are changes in network topology or settings that were incorrect, but TSM has also lead us to find filesystem corruption, incorrect system settings, botched patches, and other issues before any OS tools found it. Good luck finding the problem.... Ben -----Original Message----- From: Gianluca Mariani1 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2003 8:56 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Poor TSM Performances I tend to think of TSM as a troubleshooter by now. in my experience, in what is probably the majority of real world cases I've been in, anything that happens in the environment in which TSM sits, automatically reflects back to TSM which is the first application to suffer.before anything else. we range from faulty fibre channel cables to DB2 unsupported patched drivers to tape drive microcode, just to mention the very last engagements we have been involved in. most of the times it's difficult to convince people that it might actually be a problem outside of TSM. my 2 eurocents of knowledge tell me that before shouting "TSM sucks", it could be beneficial taking a deep breath and wondering about possible other causes. FWIW. Cordiali saluti Gianluca Mariani Tivoli TSM Global Response Team, Roma Via Sciangai 53, Roma phones : +39(0)659664598 +393351270554 (mobile) [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy says of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation product that "it is very easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of them by the sense of achievement you get from getting them to work at all. In other words ? and this is the rock solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation's Galaxy-wide success is founded -their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws"... Shannon Bach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent by: "ADSM: To Dist Stor [EMAIL PROTECTED] Manager" cc <[EMAIL PROTECTED] ST.EDU> bcc Subject 06/03/2003 Re: Poor TSM Performances 16.26 Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" Three times our TSM Server has suffered from major performance problems. All three times it turned out to be an undetected problem outside of our TSM server. One was a TCP/IP patch that was missed in an upgrade. The second time was with just one of our bigger clients with what seemed to be the NIC settings, which in turn lead to the discovery of a faulty mother board. Once a new one was put in, the performance problem disappeared. The last one was much harder to detect but turned out to be a problem with a switch in a gateway ? (what the network guys told me : ) . Our TSM server is on our MVS OS/390 mainframe though so maybe the same things won't apply for you. I will tell you this though, each time the network guys were positive it was within TSM and insisted that it could not be a problem on their side. They now think of TSM as one of their testing tools whenever there are any changes implemented on their side as it seems to detect problems no other tests do. Shannon Bach Madison Gas & Electric Co. Operations Analyst - Data Center Services Office 608-252-7260 Fax 608-252-7098 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]